The Secret to Stress-Free Transaction Management

You finally got the contract signed! But as every seasoned agent knows, that is exactly when the real work begins. Managing the transaction phase effectively is what separates an average agent from an unforgettable one.

In this episode of the Unstoppable Real Estate Agents Podcast, we are breaking down one of the most critical phases of your business: transaction management. We cover how to protect your reputation, eliminate client anxiety, and ensure every single deal reaches the closing table seamlessly.

Whether you are ready to bring on a Transaction Coordinator or you just need better internal processes right now, these three actionable tips will help you streamline your workflow, keep your clients thrilled, and protect your peace of mind.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• The Big Picture: The undeniable connection between airtight transaction management and scaling your business.
• The Power of Leverage: How stepping out of the weeds and utilizing a Transaction Coordinator can completely revolutionize your day-to-day operations.
• 3 Streamlining Strategies: Simple, immediate ways to organize your contract-to-close process, even if you are managing it all yourself.

Resources & Links:
Settlement Statement Package: https://www.kimhughes.com/settlement-statement/

Transaction Management Package: https://www.kimhughes.com/transaction-management-package/

Read the Blog: 
Watch the Video: 

Additional Resources:

📩 FREE RESOURCE: Download my Complete Checklist – 72 To-Do’s to Dominate Success in Real Estate to supercharge your strategy! https://www.kimhughes.com/72-to-dos/

Visit my website for FREE Templates: https://www.kimhughes.com/resources/free-downloads/

Power Strategy Call – Best 30 minutes you will ever spend discussing the struggles in your business as we create solutions that will set you up for unbelievable success! Go to http://www.TalkwithKimHughes.com

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Have you ever been one of those agents where you have your first offer, you know, and you've accepted the contract and you're ready to go because you know that when that transaction closes, you're going to get paid and you're going to have a very happy client. So you get all excited because you have this new contract, and then you're like, oh my gosh, now what do I do? This is probably the one area of my business I do not like to spend because it's a lot of paperwork. It's a lot of details. It's very detail-oriented. And so you need someone that is going to do the details and get excited about doing the details. Not everybody likes that, but there are people that do. And this is where you can find you a transaction coordinator who's going to cross all the T's and dot all the I's. Okay? So stick around. We're going to talk about how you can have a transaction coordinator running your files seamlessly. Welcome to the Unstoppable Real Estate Agents Podcast. I'm your host and real estate productivity expert, Kim Hughes. Join me as we focus on real strategies and implement real solutions designed for you to achieve major success in your business and life while getting you organized. So the one, the very first thing that I tell every agent is you have to have a system. You have to have a system for your transactions. This is the most critical phase of an entire process of from taking a listing or working with a buyer all the way to the closing table. The transaction is the most vital area because this is where everybody is more emotional because now we've got money involved and we've got deadlines and everything else. So let's go over how that looks. Every agent is going to have their own method of what they do during a transaction. Some agents have an office coordinator who works for all the agents in the office and closing their transactions. And if that work, great. If you can perfect it, let's do that. Okay. Because a lot of these people that, you know, if you have a transaction coordinator in your office and she's working for 20 agents, you are not her priority by any means. It's the contract that's in front of her that's the priority. And so there could be things that could be missed, not at her fault. It's just that she's really busy. And if you are in a market that y'all are just really, you know, have a lot of transactions, the more you pile on her, the the more mistakes that could be made, is what I could say. Now, I'm not, I'm not bad mouthing these girls or these guys. They do great jobs, but they do get to a point where you're overwhelming them. And they don't have the ability to say, stop, I can't do this. Okay. So let's go over some things that will give you a transaction that is seamless, stress-free, and the true reflection of the professionalism. And that is by having a rock solid transaction management system in place. Now, every agent is going to have a transaction program. That could be anything from doc you sign, dot loop, sky slope, paperless pipeline. Um, I know there's more out there, transaction desk. Um, they're all, they all do the same thing. It's just how do they do it? And it's differently. And your brokerage may be the one that tells you which program you have to use. So I'm going to give you a couple of examples because not always the brokerage's programs are going to be what's best for you, the agent. And there's a couple of things that you might want to keep in mind when you're looking at these programs. So if you work for a brokerage and that brokerage says, these are the guidelines of when you have a transaction, you have to upload the files here through this program. And I'm just going to use a program as an example. And that's going to be, let's say it's Sky Slope. So your brokerage uses Sky Slope. That's the guideline. You have to upload everything through that program. But you don't like it. It may not work for your team. You um you just don't like it, you know. Um, you may like paperless pipeline better. So you want to use paperless pipeline, and you can do that. You can use any program you want in your business. It's your business, but you still have to comply with the guidelines of your brokerage. So, what a lot of agents will do is have the system that they want to use, and they use that system to manage their transaction. And then when it comes time to upload the files to the brokerage, they just jump over to Sky Slope and throw them in there. Simple, easy, no problems. That's one option. The other option is you may not know the difference of all the transaction programs that are out there, and your brokerage offers you Sky Slope, you're happy with it and you stay with it. And that's fine too. Um, what you have to look at when you're looking at these programs, and this is for any program, is if you're a broker and you have agents and you want to switch from one program to another, you really need to talk to your agents to see if that is something they're gonna be on board with. Because you want them to be happy about everything that you're offering them, but also give them the ability to make that decision and don't force them to use something you don't they are not gonna use because they're gonna to, they're literally gonna just shut down and not use it. So let's make it to where everybody uses the same program or the same place that it uploads. So, I mean, we know all these programs because all of our agents are from, we have agents from all brokerages, we have single agents, we have teams, we do everything. So when we look at one program for that agent, if you're a single agent, super easy. But then when you're talking teams and and brokerage, it's a different ballgame. So the thing that I'm gonna talk about with you is as a single agent because this will apply to everybody. So when you get that new contract and you walk into wherever, your office, your home, and you're ready to input that transaction and and everything, the first thing you need is where's my checklist? You should have a very strategic checklist of exactly what happens when you take on a transaction. The timelines, um, you should have a list of your vendors. You know, you may use multiple vendors, so you want to make sure you have them all listed by name, contact type, uh, phone number, email, etc. All the details on that vendor. And then when you have that transaction, if you're closing the transaction, you just pull up that checklist and go right through it. If you have a transaction coordinator, um, and if this is one with the brokerage, she needs your checklist because you may do something differently than she does for anybody else. And she may not be able to do all the things that you want her to do. But at least you can talk to her about it and talk to your broker about it, director of operations, to see how she can help you achieve what you want to achieve when it comes to the checklist that you're using. Now, if you're using a transaction coordinator, which is virtual, then like somebody like us, we're gonna go over that checklist with you and we're gonna say, you know, this is great, um, a couple of questions. I don't see that you do this or you don't do that. Is that something that would be of interest to you? And so we're bringing, you know, something to the table to help you do better in your transactions because what we want to do is not only close that transaction on time effortlessly, we want that client to walk away with a wow factor. Okay. So what we do is, of course, when we get a contract, we look it over for compliance. That's very important because sometimes an agent may, you know, be in such a hurry or they assume and their brain just says, yep, they did initial that, where we catch it and they say, we say, hey, they didn't initial this page, we need to send it back to them. So we're not only looking at it for compliance, and then we're once we're satisfied with that, then you will send out an email that gives all the deadlines, all the dates, and everything. But this is where you can be different. And this is where you can take your relationships with your clients to another level. And that is while they're under contract, have an email sequence that goes out to them that gives them tips of things that they can do while they're under contract. You know, this could be now is the time to, you know, get your boxes. Now is the time to start packing, um, make sure you know who your utility companies are. Um, you know, so these are some things that we put in an email sequence that can go out to your buyer or your seller to help them stay on track and stay excited and not wait until the last minute and then they're trying to do everything. So, as an agent, you should have an email sequence, you should have your vendors, you should have your utility companies, you should have everything you need to give to your client at that appropriate time throughout the transaction for them to take action on. And that's where we come in because that's where we are also looking at those same things. So we may be saying, okay, we're in week three, we need to do this with this client. And so we're sending them that information to keep them excited. We'll pick up the phone and talk to them if we need to. If they need help with um choosing an inspection, um a home inspector, then you know, we can shoot them over a list of your vendors and let them choose one. We'll help them schedule the appointment, we'll help coordinate that with the other party. It's very easy to do. But we take that off your plate. And so that way you don't have to think about it. Then as we're going through the process, one thing that we do that we find it to be a huge white glove treatment type thing. And I would love to see all agents adapt this because it does get kind of frustrating when you are under contract and then the agent just goes L-I-A on you. And you have to call them and say, Where am I on the contract? You know, what's going on? You're your client should not be doing that. You should be telling them exactly what's going on ahead of them asking you. And by doing that, you're you're making that relationship better because they can depend on you and trust you to be there and answer those questions and go, wow, I was just getting ready to ask that question. So every week, um, you know, I would say every Monday, you might have an email that goes out giving your agents, uh, I'm sorry, to give your clients an update on what's going on with the transaction. And it could be, you know, last week we had inspections, this week it's going to be kind of quiet. So you probably won't hear from us, but don't worry, we'll be reaching out to you next Monday with an update. If you have any questions, let us know. And so these types of emails that are interacting with your clients are just, you know, making them feel so secure in their choice of choosing you to represent them. So as you're going through the contract, you know, any glitches that come up, any problems that come up, you jump on the phone with your transaction coordinator, you resolve that problem and you move on. And then when you get to the closing table, you know, to me, this is this is what's I like and what I find exciting is that when you go to the closing table and your client has signed everything, everything they've been given the keys, they're walking away, you're gonna be sending them a text message or an email within the hour. And within that time frame, you're gonna send them an email that says, you know, we enjoyed working with you. I would love your feedback. If you don't mind, would you please give us a review? And you list all the places where they can give you a review. This is such a win-win because what happens is they are so excited about their new home or they're um, you know, moving to a new area, and the closing was so easy and so seamless that they're gonna be excited to give you that review. And they're gonna immediately click on that and it's jumping over to Facebook. And she was a great agent. She was there for all the details, she held our hand, you know, that kind of thing. But it's not just Facebook, it's all social media. And we put it on your website. We move that client. Um, you know, when that client started off in your CRM, they probably came in as, you know, a new client or a new lead. And so as you bring them in, and I'll just kind of back up and say, if you're bringing in someone that you got off of a referral or a lead of any kind, then you're gonna put them in your CRM as that lead that came from Judy, the referral. And then now they are a client and now they are under contract. Now they are a past client. So what you want to do is make sure you move them through your CRM. And when you do that, they're being attached to certain email sequences that go out to them that are educational, informational, and they take action on. You don't want to just send fluff. You really want some meat and bones in your emails. That is the key to getting your clients to really respect what you do. And then when it closes and you've moved them to the past client, now what you're doing is you are putting them on a past client sequence. Now that's going to look totally different than anything else because now what do you do for that past client? What I'm hoping that you do is that their very first email for the first of the year is sending them their settlement statement with the client's settlement statement package that we've created. And you can find that in our store. So that's the first touch that they're going to get at the beginning of the year. And then I want you to put them on your newsletter. I want you to make sure that they follow you on all your social media. I want you to send a closing gift. I want you to invite them into uh to your client event. I want you to send them your market stats every month. Um, and then things that go on in your community, you're keeping them posted on what's going on. So by doing this with your past client, you are deepening that relationship. You're telling them that you're the authority in the market. They're excited about it because they've already worked with you. They know what kind of an agent you are. So now they're going to be referring you to their friends, their family, their colleagues, etc. So when it comes to, I mean, every agent should have a really solid email sequence or strategy from the minute that they get that lead all the way to a past client. And everything in between should be nurturing, informational, educational, fun, you know, everything that you want them to understand about you. And then going forward, that's how you run your business. Is basically it's a it's a relationship business. And a lot of agents don't understand that. And they, and and I'm not knocking anybody, but I went to real estate school. I know what all this is about. So they don't teach you all of this in school, they don't teach you this in your brokerage. And if they do, kudos to that brokerage. But one of the things that is the most important part is putting you out there in your community as the authority, as the approachable agent that knows everything that goes on in that community. Now, I'm not saying you have to go and know every little detail, but you have to put yourself in a position where people will come to you and say, Hey, I would love to take my wife out to eat. I need to know what the best steakhouse is. Hey, I need the best housekeeper. I need the best automotive company. I need the best. I need the best. And who do you want them to come to? You want them to come to you. And then what you're doing is as they are building these relationships, that transaction is always gonna stick in their mind because the transaction process, which was the most emotional part of the entire transaction from the beginning to the end, that is the emotional part. And if they can walk away and feel confident that they made the right decisions and everything that they did, then they're gonna come back to you and they're gonna refer you. But I want you to understand that you've got to get that transaction piece down and um make sure that you tweak it as you grow as well. And as you add things to your business, make sure that they are past clients being added to that whatever it is, that client event, that um, you know, um 33 touch, you know, whatever that may be. So I hope that this was able to help you. Um, if you're not quite ready for a transaction coordinator, that's okay. I hope that you walked away with some great tips here that you can implement yourself. But if it is something that you are interested in and seeing that it could free you up so much in your day, then reach out to us. We offer you a uh 30-minute consultation, no charge, and it's informative. I mean, we're not just chit-chatting here, we're getting down to business. And so what I would like to see you do is to take advantage of that and then go to my website and go to the transaction management page under my services and download my transaction package. We'll also put a link below for you so that it's right there at your fingertips. And then, you know, reach out to us after you printed it and looked it over and then any questions that you have. And if you're ready to streamline your transactions and deliver an amazing client experience, reach out to us. We'd be more than happy to sit down and talk to you, help you create a strategy, um, whether we help you or not, and then we'll go from there. Thanks so much for joining us, and we'll see you next time. Thank you so much for tuning in. And if you know someone, and I bet you do, who would appreciate this podcast, please share it with them. As a reminder, this podcast can be delivered directly to your favorite device by using the subscribe links you can find in the show notes below or over at Unstoppable RealestateAgents.com. Remember, it takes as much energy to wit as it does to plant. Have a great day.